Crowning the best beers in Africa

The African Beer Cup is an annual competition seeking to crown the best beers on the African continent.

Entries are welcomed from breweries small and large operating in any African country. Beers will be double-judged by a handpicked panel of qualified beer judges and industry experts. Winners will be announced at the annual Craft Brewers Powwow, a conference for brewers and beer lovers, which takes place in Cape Town in May.

How to Enter

The African Beer Cup is open to licenced, commercial breweries large and small.
Beer entered in the competition must have been brewed in Africa.

Beers will be judged according to the 2015 BJCP Guidelines. Before completing the entry form, please familiarise yourself with the guidelines and be sure to enter your beer in the correct category. Beers will be judged to the guidelines of the category in which they are entered. If you have any questions or are not sure which category to use, please contact us.

If you’re entering a lager and are not sure which category it best fits into, check out our handy Infographic.

The cost to enter is R750 per beer. This does not include shipping costs.

To enter, complete the form here and make payment online. Once registered, you will receive a document with all the details on how to ship your beers to us.

Judging

Judging will take place in Johannesburg and Cape Town in late April 2020.

The judging panels will be made up of BJCP-qualified judges and industry experts. Beers will be judged using the 2015 BJCP guidelines.
Although BJCP judging is designed to remove subjectivity, it is not a fool-proof way to judge. Sometimes judges have an off day, are unfamiliar with a style or are influenced by someone else on their panel. To try and remove this risk, every beer in the African Beer Cup will be judged twice, by two different panels. Scores will then be compared and an average taken. Should there be a difference of more than seven points between the two sets of scores, a third panel will be called upon to re-evaluate.
Best of show will be judged by a specially selected panel in Cape Town.

If you are interested in judging at the African Beer Cup, please get in touch detailing your judging, sensory and/or brewing experience.

Key Dates

November 2019

1

Monday

Entries open

March 2020

25

Friday

Entries close

March 2020

30

Monday

Beer submissions
open

April 2020

17

Friday

Final day
for submissions

May 2020

24

Friday

Judging commences

May 2020

14

Thursday

Best Beer in Africa judging

May 2020

16

Saturday

Gala dinner

Meet the Team

The African Beer Cup was born out of a love for beer and a desire to nurture a stronger beer culture across the African continent. Drawing on experience judging in numerous other competitions both local and international, the organisers of the African Beer Cup aim to offer a fair and in-depth judging process, as well as detailed, considered feedback for brewers.

Lucy Corne

Co-founder and Competition Director

Editor of On Tap Magazine and founder of Brewmistress.co.za, Lucy is a certified Cicerone® and experienced beer judge having judged at the World Beer Cup and numerous South African competitions.

Shawn Duthie

Co-founder and Competition Director

Brewer and former president of the Southyeasters Homebrewers Club, Shawn judged his first competition in 2009 in South Korea. He has been instrumental in setting up BJCP competitions and judging exams in Cape Town.

Marketing & Design

Sandy Pollock

Logistics Manager

Sales Director at bevPLUS since opening the company in 2014, bevPLUS supplies the craft beer industry with brewing materials, equipment and ingredients. Dedicated to growing the craft beer industry we started the Craft Brewers Powwow in 2016.

Romina Gaggero Delicio

Finance manager

Director and finance manager for bevPLUS, Dematech (Pty) Ltd and the Craft Brewers Powwow, Romina handles all finances and account management across the board, as well as business development and HR.

Anaia Dos Santos

Administrator and Front of House

Administrator and Front of House for bevPLUS, Dematech (Pty) Ltd and the Craft Brewers Powwow. Anaia handles all beer entries, quotes, client liaison as well as all of the administration and bookings for the African Beer Cup.

About us

The African Beer Cup is an annual competition seeking out the best beers on the African continent.